A PHOTO-BASED survey company in North Yorkshire is set for major changes to the way data is collected in its industry, thanks to advice and support from a trio of advisers from Business Link York and North Yorkshire.

Photarc Surveys Ltd, which employs ten people in Harrogate, translates photography - often aerial - into measurable data for maps, restorations and new roads, using digital optical gadgetry for precise measurements.

It means architects or road builders can easily and accurately superimpose their plans on to real configuration of landscapes or buildings.

The venture has been supported by Business Link for more than three years and now, with advances in technology, it has put an impressive marketing plan in place.

Rory Stanbridge, Photarc's marketing director, first came into contact with Business Link adviser Helen Gisbourne at an Investors In People seminar.

She worked with the company to help it successfully achieve the award in 2003.

Then Business Link adviser Margaret Shea identified marketing as a key focus area and appointed a marketing consultant to redevelop the company's website, undertake a PR campaign and develop promotional materials.

Mr Stanbridge said: "Alongside the improvements that Margaret was helping us to make to better promote the business, we also received support from a third Business Link adviser, Martin Walsh, who helped us to achieve financial support for vital new equipment and training for our staff on how to use it.

"We rely on a variety of cameras, techniques and software, and the support we received meant the successful installation of a new server system that could cope with the file sizes we are working with, which can be 900 megabytes at a time.

"They also helped us to access financial support, which was vital for developing our new website and preparing us for the changes we are expecting in the industry, such as LIDAR, a new airborne scanner system that records ground heights from the air, providing a quicker alternative to providing topographic data for mapping purposes."

Updated: 09:46 Wednesday, January 25, 2006